"We only go around once. There's really no time to be afraid. Try something you’ve never tried. Teach it. Do it. Risk it." - JB

Sunday, August 30, 2009

A walk down memory lane...

with IM Loo!

About a year ago, I did my first Ironman in Kentucky at Ironman Louisville. Oh what a day it was! Heat index hit 104F degrees with humidity and wind. This year however, temps were in the mid 70's at most- not fair!! IM Loo isn't IM Loo without the ridiculous heat & humidity! Anyway, as I was saying, back to last year, the end story was that I finished- officially. The highlight of my race day however had something to do with a random man on a red TT bike named Joe Vickory. It was about mile 85 when he rolled up next to me and said, "We can make the bike cut off!" Yes, it was that bad of a day out there. Every 10 minutes was the sound of an ambulance. People were getting off their bikes to sit under a shaded tree or to take a nap. I asked Joe what he was doing back here? He said, "My fingers are numb.. I don't know!" Joe and I were fighting against the clock and for awhile we were doing it alone until he rolled up next to me and all of a sudden, I felt like we were kind of doing it together....that was until he sped away!! I must have passed him at a water stop because somehow, we came out of T2 and onto the run together.

We ran the first 7 or so miles together until he said, "I'll catch up!" He had said that many times before so I thought he'd catch up except I didn't see him anymore. Through the rest of my race, I was thinking about him. Hope he is ok... I wonder where he could be. Run course.. still ambulance every 15 minutes or so- people are dehydrated left & right! Not a good sight!! I crossed the finish line.. finished the race but no sight of Joe during my run when I left him to catch up. Few months later, thanks to Facebook, I found a Joe Vickery and messaged him. No response so I figured wrong guy. Couple months passed and I get a message on Facebook from Joe- it was him!!! So that year, he said the the medics took his vitals at mile 7 or 9 something like that..low heart rate and then ended up picking him up in an ambulance a few miles after that .. took him to the emergency room for 8 bags of IV fluid!!! Not to be beat down, he got a slot for Ironman Louisville 2009!

I was rooting for him ALL DAY long and of all the people I knew racing, he was the #1 guy I was rooting for and he did it!! He became an Ironman today and brought it to the race that brought him down a year ago- Congrats Joe! I am beyond happy & excited for you!!